Shockwaves are reverberating across Yorùbáland and the global Yorùbá diaspora following the sudden death of the Baba Ọba (King’s Father) of the famed Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina, USA. The late Baba Ọba, Lukman Arohunfale, a revered socialite and traditionalist, passed away under circumstances already sparking fierce controversy. His death comes just days after he publicly accused the newly installed Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty Oba Akeem Adéyẹmọ Owoade, of allegedly ordering his courtiers to beat him mercilessly during a recent courtesy visit to the Oyo palace in Nigeria. In a widely circulated voice recording, the deceased recounted how what was meant to be a simple homage turned violent. Although the Baba Ọba had reportedly battled ill health in the past year, growing insinuations suggest that the alleged physical assault may have aggravated his condition, ultimately leading to his untimely death. The palace in Oyo recently denied that s...
47year old lady Mercy Jesu Oyingo immanuel wrung her hands nervously, looking down at the foot mat in the car in which she shared her story with our correspondent. The strange place became necessary because she was only willing to share her story away from the earshot of her father, late Jesu Oyingbo. The neighbour was said to have asked her husband about it but he simply explained it away as nothing. When Mercy Immanuel started speaking, the series of allegations she made were like bombs wrapped in words. My late dad Odumosu Jesu Oyingbo sleeps with his children as a power he got from occult power to enrich his pocket. When she started speaking, her words came out with trepidation. She said, “My dad started sleeping with me when I was 8yrs old
The day he started, my mother was not around that day. She was in church during a fasting and prayer programme. I was at home, so I was not in church with her.“My mother was the one cooking for church members when they break their fast daily. I always told him I did not want to do that and he would leave me sometimes. Other times, he would still force me when I beg him to leave me alone. He said if I told anybody, I would die. I sleep on the bed while my dad and sister sleep on the floor.”Asked if she thought her father was having the same sexual contact with her younger sister, she said yes.According to her, her mother, an Imo State indigene, has been away from home for about nine months even though she is not separated from her husband and neither are they divorced.She was said to have left home for her village to take care of her mother.“He forces me to do it when my mother is not around. If my mother goes out or is playing with her friends outside, he would do it.”But that was not the worst of Mercy Oyingbo Jesu’s story.Mercy allegedly got pregnant.She explained that she did not know she was pregnant until her father took her to one Nurse Esther, whom our correspondent later found out is 32-year-old Esther Udoh, an auxiliary nurse who also works in a hairdressing salon.Mercy said, “My dad just told me that day that he was taking me to Nurse Esther, who is a member of our church.“When I got to Nurse Esther’s house, he went inside while I waited outside. When they were done talking, we left. When we got home, my dad gave me three white tablets at once.“Some days after I took the tablet, we went for a Thursday service and I started having stomach pain. I told my mother about the pain. I told her I wanted to go to the toilet. I did but the pain was still there.
Blood started coming out of me. My mother asked what happened and I told her I did not know why I was bleeding. My dad was with us in the church at the time.